MF Mission....The JHH Dream!!

Muser1

Yey you are back! Off to catch up.

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

I really hope that you are feeling well again soon, take care,

Squirrel x

JHH1982

Secret_Saving_Squirrel wrote: »

I really hope that you are feeling well again soon, take care,

Squirrel x

Muser1 wrote: »

Yey you are back! Off to catch up.

Thanks for the comments both! Getting back on form slowly but surely!

JHH1982

MFW Goodness :money:
• Continued the LSD/NSD days over last week
• X lots of surveys completed
• Multiple Tilly tidies in the last week ~£5



The Not So Good :eek:
• Off work for another week+
• Still v v v v bored not being able to do much
• Eating too much!


Blessings & Good Stuff :A :T
• Caught up with a few besties Fri night and sampled a cheeky glass of wine :beer:
• On the mend! Can start getting back to normal life (slowly) soon :j
• Keeping focused on the MFW journey - while the temptation to shop online is v v tempting atm!!!
• Decided to have a bash at a few homemade Xmas pressies - fudge, chutney and caramelised onions - let's see how they turn out

37 sleeps till Santa :xmastree: :santa2:

JHH1982

Forgot to add £23 from £co paid

JHH1982

MFW Goodness :money:
• NSD
• Started the meal plan which takes us to the NY

The Not So Good :eek:
• The youngest hound made a great escape over one of the garden a walls earlier today :eek: :mad:(it's nearly 5ft!)!! We plan on having a garage built there so haven't done anything to it - she hasn't ever tried before but I think she must have seen a cat/pheasant by the speed she moved! Have gone for a cheap solution and placed lots of plant pots on the wall, hope this works!
• Sent DH to buy a new Xmas tree (this is of course good also but the £££ spent classes it under naughty) from BoftheQ with my dad (he has an oap card! ) - I will pay half towards it, but tomorrow which I've classed as a spend day texhnically leaving today as NSD :cool:

Blessings & Good Stuff :A :T
• Gentle first walk with the hounds today for 20 mins :j - I have missed this so much! Just being in the fresh air (indeed it was fresh/crisp!) albeit briefly has made such a difference!
• Ingredients List made for homemade fudge, chutney and cleaner (lemon and vinegar) - will get all the ingredients tomorrow
• Lovely catch up and cuppa with the girlfriends last night :grinheart - this has been a Tue eve ritual for years but we have all gone of piste for a few months - however allagreed to ensure we do our best, even if only for an hour!
• The village church is doing a Christmas carol service Xmas eve :rudolf:which DH and I are looking forward to attending - I'm not overly religious tbh but I like the reflection time when in church - although we've only been a few times since moving in earlier this year

5 weeks today and it's Xmas Eve :santa2:

JHH1982

MFW Goodness :money:
• 55p TT
• Spent £9 on a new pic frame from the range (this isn't the good bit tho:rotfl: ) which is what I went for and resisted buying other things, that even a few months ago I would have justified - was quite proud:D
• Not much else to report

££ Spends / The Not So Good :eek:
• Spendy 3 days! :eek:
Thu was food shopping, spent around £120 which includes Aldee, Tesc0 only a few £ but couldn't find bits in Aldee and then our local farm shop. So a fairly unavoidable shop (esp as we haven't really done one, any kind for a month!) and I think we are stocked up well enough to last us through the 4 months of snow they now seem to be forecasting!
Fri - frivolous spend of £30 at bingo with a few friends, I am justifying this as I've done nothing and been nowhere in virtually a month! Didn't win a bean though :cool:
Today - £6.xx on a few white cobs (bought to make bacon sarnie at home instead of buying from sandwich shop!), lemons for the lemon tart I plan to bake tomorrow, white wine vinegar to top up my home made cleaning solution I'm giving a whirl - in the hope of getting away from the chemical based plethora of solutions I seem to have in the cupboard! And 2 x lotto tickets, with 20 x millionaires it would be rude not too!:D Also we are off to the cinema tonight to watch hunger games, so more £££. We don't v often go to the cinema (mainly because you need a second mortgage these days!:mad:) unless it's a film we really want to watch - but we have really enjoyed the hunger games so far + we can get 45% off the price with O2 priority moments :T
• The impending cold weather which will mean a ^^^ heating bill is inevitable - we have a smart metre though so it's far easier to keep track than at our previous house- so hoping to keep under control

Blessings & Good Stuff :A :T
• Wills have been re drafted, signed and sent back to sols - a weight of my mind now this is sorted! :j
• First (v steady) hour walk with the hounds today - fabulous! :A
• Pork belly, mash and braised cabbage for lunch Tom with lemon tart for dessert - yummy! Much more MSE than eating out!
• Lunch time visit from DF and her little man (2 year old) on Fri - I'm not overly fussed about kids in general tbh, I do love my friends little ones but I'm just not a natural - however little man is super super cute! Cheered my day right up! :T

JHH1982

MFW Goodness :money:
• 57p TT
• NSD
• Nipped to the village to buy a tart tin this morning - couldn't find one so I've improvised with a quiche dish instead. What I realised, as I was wondering around multiple shops looking for said tart tin, is that I didn't actually want to buy one even if I'd found one because I wanted to keep my NSD….. I hope my lightbulb has been well and truly been switched on the MFW and frugal lifestyle! :money::j

The Not So Good :eek:
• Life is good in the JHH household atm :T

Blessings & Good Stuff :A :T
• Another steady hours walk with DH and the hounds & we managed to stay dry
• Lemon tart is baked and looks pretty good! :A
• Pork Belly, mash, roasties & red cabbage are all prepped and will shortly be cooking - I plan on making up the formal dining table and opening a nice bottle of red as a treat for us both (much cheaper than the Sunday lunch we would most likely have nipped out for previously!)
**edit to the above, pork belly and lemon tart suitably scarfed down - both were delicious! We also palmed off 1/2 the tart to next door in the vein hope of trying not to put weight on**
• I finished reading secret saving squirrels diary this weekend (must post on her thread) and wow :T - what an inspiration she is - it's really given me food for thought about the frugal, decluttering lifestyle style. TBH we don't have that much clutter anyway, our house is fairly minimalist for several reasons - 1. we moved from a 2 bed to 5 bed house this year and 2. more so because I can't stand untidiness/clutter - having said that I've already started ear marking a few things to bin/free cycle/sell, but there isn't much! I am definitely beginning to like the thought of not buying more mindless carp tho, we really do have everything we need/want already - it really seems to have resonated with me…. Long may it continue! :beer:

Another week not at work but I'm allowed to 'potter' and start getting back to normal!
Quite a few things on the 'to do' list:

1. Make Fudge, chutney and lemon curd
2. Buy printer Ink/print copy of wills
3. Clean the house: Polish, bathrooms, clean windows
4. New tyres for DH car
5. Buy Christmas cards
6. Finish meal plan until Jan 3rd

JHH1982

MFW Goodness :money:
• 52p TT
• NSD :j
• £4.35 tracked with £co

The Not So Good :eek:
• Had to buy 2 x new tyres for DH's car(from the car maintenance pot and DH paid on his card, hence keeping my NSD) but with the supposed 'worst winter in 100 years' :eek: around the corner, a necessity I think!

Blessings & Good Stuff :A :T
• Fished out some of last years Xmas pressies and plan to upcycle/redistribute them via gifting them as Xmas pressies to others, who I know will use them.
I don't want to seem ungrateful , but I rarely use the 'smellies' bought for me and they will just sit there for another few years if I don't re distribute...
• De cluttered/binned a few bits (really couldn't sell them, few old t-towels and some plastic bits!) - we really haven't got that much to go at but am going to get it down to bare bones!
• Found a few good 'named' dresses to put on FleaBay (which I will add to the list for this week) that I have been reluctant to part with previously but I know I'll favour other dresses over wearing these - so may as well sell and earn a few pennies to the pots!
I am contemplating if it's worth using FleaBay tbh, as the amount of trouble people seem to experience of late - ho hum - not sure I know of another method to use though?
• Have some toms left over after making the chutney today, so will make some Tom soup and Hm cobs on Wed for lunch as DH will be WFH
• Feeling very determined and strangely excited about embracing the MFW and frugal journey over the next ~7years :money: :T:j

This weeks 'to do' list:

1. Make Fudge, [STRIKE]chutney[/STRIKE] and lemon curd
2. [STRIKE]Buy printer Ink/print copy of wills[/STRIKE]
3. Clean the house: [STRIKE]Polish[/STRIKE], bathrooms, [STRIKE]windows[/STRIKE]
4. [STRIKE]New tyres for DH car[/STRIKE]
5. Buy Christmas cards
6. Finish meal plan until Jan 3rd
7. List dresses on FleaBay

Goldiegirl

Hello, glad you are on the road to recovery

Secret saving Squirrel was one of the first diaries that I read, and encouraged me to start my own diary, as I'm in a similar situation to her.

Over the past five years, I've been doing major de-cluttering. We are two people, living in a four bedroom house for 25 years. I liken it to goldfish, we grow to the size of our bowl and fill it up! You've started life in your new house with the right mindset, not to fill it up with stuff!

I've eBayed quite a lot of my things, and to be honest I've had very little trouble. I take lots of photos, do good descriptions and highlight any faults. Over the years I've done about 1500 sales, and only a handful have been trouble. I find the fees have gone up a lot, but overall it's been worthwhile.


Good luck in your mortgage free quest